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A hint of the Greek word bios, meaning "life", can be seen in microbe. Microbes, or microorganisms, include bacteria, protozoa, fungi, algae, amoebas, and slime molds. Many people think of microbes as simply the causes of disease, but every human is actually the host to billions of microbes, and most of them are essential to our life. Much research is now going into possible microbial sources of future energy; algae looks particularly promising, as do certain newly discovered or created microbes that can produce cellulose, to be turned into ethanol and other biofuels.
Examples of microbe in a Sentence
Laya Neelakandan, CNBC, 27 Mar. 2025
Pasteurization is the process of heating liquids or foods, in order to kill microbes that can cause spoilage and disease.
—Laura Gómez, Scientific American, 26 Mar. 2025
This microbe effortlessly endures radiation doses several thousand times stronger than levels lethal to humans.
—Scott Travers, Forbes, 24 Mar. 2025
Margaret McFall-Ngai, a faculty associate at the California Institute of Technology and Carnegie Science, was a colleague of Knight’s in the field of beneficial microbe interactions for nearly two decades.
—Noah Lyons, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Mar. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Microbe.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/microbe. Accessed 10 Apr. 2025.
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microbe
noun
Medical Definition
microbe
noun
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